


Codename: DREAM

by jaehyuninie



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Cussing, Explicit Language, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Spies & Secret Agents, Tags May Change, mention of violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:40:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26819689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaehyuninie/pseuds/jaehyuninie
Summary: "I've seen 'Totally Spies', I know how this works"To think that this job is as innocent as a children's cartoon is one way to see it, until you become part of it that is.It's a game, and if you lose this game, you might also lose yourself.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	1. Changes

“When I said, ‘Try the new equipment’, I didn’t mean blow up half the lab.” Jaemin took off his glasses aggressively and placed them on his desk while rubbing the bridge of his nose. 

“Fuck”, Haechan muttered under his breath while taking off his safety goggles. “I didn’t blow half of it up, do you want me to go again?”, he walked towards Jaemin and Jeno, who were looking the evaluation of the equipment on the computer screen. Haechan leaned forward and looked at the screen while resting his arms on Jaemin’s and Jeno’s shoulders. “So, how did it go?” he asked and turned to face Jaemin. Jeno took a note. “It looks like we’ll have to do the testing again, there seems to be some problem, but we aren’t sure what it is yet”, he said before Jaemin could answer. “Oh, by the way,” Jaemin started talking but the door of the elevator opened, and Renjun came in furiously holding a bunch of files. His glasses, that one would say were too big for him, were slowly sliding down his face as he was walking fast towards the three boys, and his, this time light brown, hair, was messed and tangled, his eyebrows were knitted and his lips were pressed together forming a straight line.

Step. Jaemin gulped. Step. Jeno stood up. Step. Haechan hid behind the computer. Step. Stop. They were all looking at Renjun who seemed like he was about to kill a person. One, two, three steps, he dumped this huge pack of files on the desk next to the keyboard, fixed his glasses calmly and took a deep breath. The three boys looked at Renjun, and Haechan slowly took a few steps back, almost bumping on the protective glass of the testing area.

“How many times? How many times do I have to tell you to not be so loud? I’ve been trying to work for the past two hours but all I’ve been hearing is Haechan making warrior sounds while blowing up whatever it is that he blew up.” He crossed his arms and gave them another stern look. “Anyways, here’s your stupid information and reports on last year’s equipment performance that you asked for. I’ve written some ideas on how you can improve them or whatever.”

Ding! The elevator doors opened, and Mark casually walked in, dropped his bag on the floor and approached them. “Yo, the mission was a success! But.” Mark scratched his head in confusion, earning concerned looks from the rest of the boys. Haechan rolled his eyes, “Are you gonna tell us on your own or what?”, he was starting to get pissed off. “Oh, no, it’s actually unrelated to the mission, but, like, there’s this kid upstairs, in the lobby? Tall, light brown hair, he kind of looks like a baby chick or something. Is he supposed to be here?”

Haechan turned to Jeno, who then looked at Renjun, who cleaned his throat and turned to look at Jaemin. “Yes, so, as I was about to tell you, Haechan, before Renjun came in here and interrupted me; We are welcoming a new recruit today! Yaaay!!” Jaemin said half-excitedly half-scared and clapped his hands. He was always ready to welcome more members, their little family could grow, and they could also get more jobs, but he was also known to make decisions rather quickly and sometimes, and this time specifically, without negotiating with the rest before anything. Jeno’s eyes started and his mouth opened in shock. “We WHAT!?” Haechan went up to Jaemin and gave him a tight hug. “It was nice knowing you bro.” He said while patting him on his back. Mark was trying to stop himself from laughing and made an expression that basically meant ‘Jaemin, man, you’re so fucked.’ Jeno put both hands on his waist and shook his head in misbelief. Renjun took off his glasses and closed his eyes. Jaemin decided to speak first. “What? I know I didn’t ask you for that, but come on, we urgently need an extra person. It’s the only way we can get more jobs.” He made an excellent point, they did need more jobs and they did need an extra person, so they had to accept his decisions to recruit the new kid no matter what.

“Okay, well, what’s done is done. Where’s Chenle? If we are to recruit a newbie, we need Chenle to be here too.” Jeno said while calling Chenle’s phone. Jaemin went dead silent for a second, _how do I tell them,_ he asked himself. “Yeah uhm, about that. The new recruit is actually Chenle’s friend from school. We hung out with him like, last year or something.” Surprises, so, so many surprises, this day would just be full of surprises. “Wait, you mean _that_ awkward kid? The kid who kept looking at his feet. The kid who asked us if our job is like ‘Scooby-doo’? _That_ kid?” Renjun was as red as a tomato, and at this point, it would be safe to say that it would be better for Na Jaemin to hide somewhere, preferably inside the testing area. _Help_ , he thought to himself and. Ding! The elevator doors opened and Chenle walked out. He dropped his guns and dagger down, as he always did, only this time he didn’t return by himself.

“Hey guys!” Chenle greeted them with excitement. “I brought our newest recruit with me.” The five boys looked at each other and then at the new kid, who looked exactly like Mark’s earlier description: Tall, light brown hair, kinda looks like a baby chick. Jaemin walked towards the new kid and put an arm on his shoulder. “Welcome to the team! How should we call you?” He tried breaking the ice. The baby chick looked a bit scared; he had met them all before, but that was a completely different and new environment for him, he was getting anxious. _Breathe Jisung, breathe, you’ve already met them before, it’s gonna be okay._ Five, six, seven, eight… each second felt like torture. They all had their eyes on him, neutral faces, except for Jaemin, who was wearing a warm and kind expression on his. “Jisung.” He said suddenly, startling the rest of the boys. “My name is Park Jisung, I’m eighteen years old and I’ve been friends with Chenle since elementary school.” Haechan instantly walked towards him, a mischievous smile plastered on his face, “So, Jisung was it? How come you decided to come work with us?” Chenle eye-sided him but Haechan just smiled innocently. “I, uh, well, Chenle said it would be fun, and I need some money too.” Renjun puckered his lips for a second and took a step forward. “Jisung, right?” A rhetoric question, but he needed some sort of introduction.

“Do you know martial arts? Any type really.”

“No.”

“Do you know how to shoot? Or at least, how to hold a gun?”

“No.”

“Do you know any foreign languages?”

“English! Oh, and a bit of Mandarin.”

Renjun turned to the rest, and looked at them almost as if he wanted to say, ‘Are you for fucking real?’ Instead, he settled for;

“ _Why_ did you recruit him?”

“He’s Chenle’s friend!” Jaemin exclaimed.

“I’ve seen _Totally Spies_ ; I know how this works.” Jisung’s naivety made the boys laugh.

“Sorry to break it to you like this man but, this, truly, _honestly_ , has nothing similar to _Totally Spies_.” It was Haechan who spoke this time, his face red from laughing, a single tear streaming down his cheek, one hand clutching his belly, the other on Jisung’s shoulder. Jisung still seemed to be a bit confused.

“So, am I in?” He asked, his eyes full of impatience and excitement.

Renjun sighed in misbelief, “Yeah, I guess you’re in.”


	2. Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's rather funny what people are willing to do for money, isn't it? We judge decisions, fully forgetting that circumstances are different for each person. What if your only way out was, let's say, becoming a member of a private crime solving unit? What if your only way out was to become a contract killer? Appearances can be deceiving.

Jisung woke up before the dawn again today, the alarm made its typical annoying sound and for a second, he contemplated whether it would be better to just break his phone and get it over with once and for all. He grabbed his phone from the nightstand a few moments later and checked the time. The screen lit up, a bit too bright for him, **4:59am** , he read the time once again to make sure, and slowly sat up on his bed. _‘Ah, fuck_ ,’ this has been his thought every morning for the past two weeks, usually followed by _do I really need the money?_

Hesitantly, Jisung got up, washed his face, ate some cereal, _Lucky Charms_ read the box, and Jisung instantly started humming the song he had heard on the TV one too many times for his liking, “Hearts, stars, and horseshoes, clovers and blue moons, unicorns, rainbows, and tasty red balloons!” He put the bowl in the sink, turned on the tap and let water run in the bowl. Yawning, he rubbed his eyes a bit. **5:20am**. The weather was getting colder, he wore his black hoodie and some cargo pants, grabbed his cap and bag, he was in such a hurry he almost left the house wearing his slippers. **5:25am**. He put on his sneakers and went out the door. **5:27am**. As he was going down the stairs, he thought maybe he should have gotten the elevator or maybe move to an apartment on the first floor. **5:29am** , he got out of the apartment building and the cold air hit his face fully waking him up. He checked the time. _SHIT_. He ran to the bus stop, **5:32am** , like clockwork the bus stopped in front of him, a sigh of relief escaped his lips. **5:47am** , he reached his destination.

The big grey building still felt intimidating, _how did they even manage to get that_ , he always thought of this as he was walking towards the entrance. **5:51am** , he bumped into Renjun outside the entrance. Although the first week he felt intimidated by him, Jisung quickly got used to Renjun, and they were now getting along well. “You learn fast,” Renjun had told him a few days ago and Jisung instantly forgot their first meeting. It wasn’t often that he happened to meet him like this though, Renjun was usually at work, be that in the office or on mission. Renjun nodded at him “Good morning Jisung!” he exclaimed and took a sip from his coffee. Jisung smiled and greeted him “Good morning!”

_Bzzzzzt!_

Someone buzzed them in. “I forgot my keys,” Renjun said somewhat apologetically before walking in. **5:54am**. As they were walking towards the elevator, he realised how suspicious this whole thing would look to a third party. _Why do we have to be buzzed in, doesn’t it look suspicious? When will I be given my set of keys? How do they meet with clients? Will I-_ Ding! His thoughts were interrupted, and he got on the elevator. Silence. Renjun was looking through some stuff on his phone. Silence. Jisung took out his phone, ‘ _No new notifications’_ , he sighed, why would he have new notification at 5:55am anyways, everyone he knew was either fast asleep or going to sleep. “Oh right, I need you to sign some papers before starting today’s training, I’ll text Mark that you’ll be a bit late,” Renjun broke the silence. Ding!

**5:56am**.

They walked in Renjun’s office. Jisung looked around. Three white wood libraries, filled to the brim with books and paperwork, a white wooden desk, similar to the libraries, with black metallic legs, on which a personal computer was placed, light grey walls, and two black chairs, one behind and one in front of the desk. _Minimalism? Or maybe he just doesn’t care enough._ “Give me a second, I printed the documents yesterday, I just,” he paused and dumped some books on his desk, “I just need to remember where I put them,” he continued. Jisung nodded. “Here they are!” Renjun smiled at the younger boy.

_Partnership Agreement_

Jisung looked confused, wasn’t he supposed to be an employee? Renjun realised the reason behind his confusion rather fast. “Yeah so, we aren’t employing you, you will be working as our partner, that way you can also take jobs by yourself should you want to do so.” Jisung nodded. He looked at the time; He sight-read the document and signed it. “Great, thank you Jisung, you can go train now.” Jisung bid his goodbyes and walked to the elevator.

-

The first person Jisung met when he got out of the elevator was Jaemin. He was searching for something in one of the many notebooks near him,a huge cup of iced coffee on one hand, already half-drank, hair so messed one would think he just woke up, fixing his glasses every few seconds. _Does he never leave this place?_ Jaemin turned and looked at him “Gooooood morning our Jisung,” he said with overflowing excitement. “Mark is practicing right now, I’m just running some tests on his physical condition, do you want something to drink while you wait?” Jisung hesitated a bit. “Uhm, yes, a cup of coffee please.” He replied but still felt like he was being too casual. “A cup of coffee coming right up!”

Jaemin returned a minute later with a mug that had _I will probably spill this_ written with black letters on it. “Here you go!” Jisung thanked him with a small bow and took a sip, the bitter taste of coffee wasn’t usually his favourite, but at that very moment, it felt like heaven. Jaemin took off his glasses and sat opposite of him. “So, what will you be practicing today?” he asked casually.

“I think shooting, and maybe how to use a bow? Mark said we’ll continue martial arts next week.” Jisung was still feeling a bit awkward around Jaemin, weighing his every word. Although Jaemin felt comfortable, he also had this scary aura around him and Jisung couldn’t just ignore that.

“Oh! No wonder Mark asked me to help today then. We’re gonna have a lot of fun Jisung, don’t you worry one bit.” Jaemin looked as if the caffeine had finally kicked in, his eyes sparkled with excitement and he happily clapped his hands. _He’s gonna what?_ Jisung had started to freak out. Jaemin looked at his watch, **6:20am** , and got up to check something on the monitor. Jisung watched as he pressed a small silver button next to a microphone he had never cared enough to notice. “Mark, your results look great, you can take a small break before we start with Jisung’s training.” Mark, who was now facing the both of them, made an okay sign and a bit later the glass doors of the testing area opened.

“Good morning Jisung! Did everything go okay with Renjun? He told me you were confused about working as a partner with us, do you have any questions?” Jisung liked Mark, he was intimidating, but not as much as Jaemin, he laughed a lot and easily, he was really patient and a good teacher to him. “Oh, no, it’s fine! Renjun explained the partnership thing to me already, thank you.” He paused for a bit, _should I ask him though?_ he contemplated. “Jaemin told me earlier that he’s helping with my training today.” He felt anxious, was that rude? Maybe he shouldn’t have commented at all. “Yeah, I asked him to help us. We were actually opponents in many shooting competitions, his style might fit you a bit more too. I’d ask Chenle to help, but I have a feeling you two will just joke around and get nothing done.” Mark said while drying the sweat on his face with a towel. Jisung’s lips formed an ‘o’ and he just nodded.

“Should we start training?” Jaemin asked while assembling a gun.

-

It was a Wednesday night when they threw the body in a river away from the city. The air was cold, the fog thick and the streetlights shimmering. He sat on the bench, next to the other three men. He had just finished his first job, but the only thing he could think about was whether or not he could live knowing that he had killed a person. He tried to breathe, but he felt like he was drowning, maybe it was because of the weather. He’d get money for that, how much? He started to think, this man’s life was worth as much as the money he’d get. A light tap on his shoulder made him snap out of his thoughts and he turned to the man sitting next to him in confusion. He reeked of smoke and rum, or whatever it was that they were drinking. He threw his head back, closed his eyes, and sighed. The man next to him gave him a cigar. “You’ll get used to it,” he told him.


	3. Penumbra

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> penumbra  
> /pɪˈnʌmbrə/  
> a space of partial illumination (as in an eclipse) between the perfect shadow on all sides and the full light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING!  
> please be aware that this chapter contains strong language and descriptions of situations that may be upsetting or triggering.

“…Aaaand a four-shot iced americano for you sir.” Jaemin looked at his coffee with so much adoration one would think it was his child.

“I thought you said you’d stop drinking _this_ much coffee,” Renjun commented on Jaemin’s coffee order, sounding more like a worried parent than a friend scolding another. “And also, it’s fucking winter man, what the fuck was it that made you think that drinking ice cold coffee is a good idea?” Jeno kept asking himself how come he hadn’t lost his marbles completely because of their friendship.

“Weeeell, I mean, it’s been a stressful few weeks, you know, with Jisung’s training and stuff,” he replied, realising his mistake a few seconds later. “Not that training you is stressful, haha.” He scratched his head while trying to get rid of the awkwardness. “So anyways, where the hell is Haechan?” He decided to change the topic. The rest shrugged and just then the coffee shop’s bell made its familiar sound as the door opened, cold air filled the room making the costumers shiver, and a millisecond later, swift but heavy steps were heard, easily distinguishable, the wooden floor enhancing their echo and the six boys already knew who had just walked in. A furious Haechan approached their table, eyebrows knit, hair messed by the air, cheeks and nose rosy red from the cold. Mark looked at him, and before the younger one could even so much as breathe, Mark decided that he should;

“Your conversation we had just now.” Mark teasingly commented and Haechan raised a brow at him, the rest looked at Mark as if he had finally gone insane.

“What the fuck are you even saying right now?” Haechan, usually ready to tease each and every one of his teammates, looked like he was about to kick Mark’s ass just for breathing near him.

“I don’t know man, I just read somewhere online that Greeks say that when someone comes just as somebody else was asking about them.” Mark replied in a simple manner, unaware of what he was risking (his life). Haechan decided to completely dismiss him and instead continued as he was. He took a white envelope out of his backpack and aggressively hit his palm on the table, startling not only the boys but also the rest of the costumers. “Guess which fuckers, who always say shit like _oh you’re just a bunch of kids_ and _you don’t even know what you are doing_ , are currently in need of our fucking help.”

Chenle raised a hand as if to answer the question, but Jeno beat him “Is it the police department?” Haechan took a chair from the table next to theirs and sat down backwards, “Bingo!” he took a breath. “Motherfucking bastards found a corpse in some river early in the morning today, and yet they need help from ‘a bunch of twenty-year olds’ who aren’t even actually detectives, this is where our fucking tax money goes to.” They were all visibly annoyed by the fact they had to help the police, it wasn’t an often occurrence, but it paid good money, and it also meant that the police wouldn’t force them out of work anytime soon. There was just one person confused, newest teammate, nicest kid, fast learner, but constantly confused Park Jisung.

“Why don’t we like the police?” he asked innocently and with a bit of naivety. Chenle lightly hit his back “I’ll explain later, just know that they aren’t as nice as you think, or at least not to us.” Jaemin made an expression full of disgust. “Not nice?” he asked. “No, no, it’s not about whether they are nice or anything. They invalidate our work, laugh at us, and yet they are bribed to keep secrets of powerful people, or rich people, they don’t really care enough about corruption. It’s not their attitude and stance towards us, it’s the fact that most of them are fucking knee-deep in scandals of their own yet act as if they are righteous and law abiding. These fuckers, the only reason we help them is because we get good money.” Jeno patted Jaemin’s back and Renjun cleared his throat before speaking. “Anyways, this isn’t about them, I think it’s best we go check the situation ourselves, I doubt they’d ask for our help, if it wasn’t something extremely important and tough to deal with.”

**-**

Renjun was uneasy throughout the entirety of the ride, he kept on fidgeting, fixing the position of his glasses, he was restless, something about this just didn’t feel right. Yes, they’ve helped the police quite a few times, but each time it was about gathering and relaying information, before today, it had never been about detective work for one very simple reason: they were _not_ detectives.

“Will you stop fucking fidgeting so much? Why are you acting like that, we’ve worked with them before, some of them are even chill to hang out with.” Jeno, who was sitting next to Renjun, finally lost his cool.

“I’m sorry, you’re right. It’s just… I don’t know, something about this whole ordeal doesn’t make sense to me. We’ve never helped with murder cases before unless it was to relay information, so why now?” He ruffled his hair in distress and sighed.

“Look, it’s going to be okay, we’ve worked with them before, and plus, both Mark and Jaemin seem calm about it, why stress yourself?” Jeno tried easing Renjun’s concerns but he was absent-minded, reading the news on some tabloid.

_Man found dead: the beginning of a series of unfortunate events?_

Jeno sighed, _the fuck is up with this title_ , but scrolled down, nonetheless.

_A man about 34 years old was found dead at the river coast at around 6 a.m. today by a local resident, who was out on his morning run. The police were notified, and a unit is currently investigating what seems to be a murder case. The man is said to have suffered severe injuries before being thrown in the river. The police made the decision to not give more information until the investigation comes to an end._

Jeno locked his phone and took off his glasses. He contemplated whether there was a point in telling them the news. Looking at Haechan, who was going through the files together with Chenle, while an anxious Jisung was trying to prepare himself for his first job ,‘deep breaths Jisung’ he told himself again and again, he decided against it.

“We’re here.” Mark announced and a few seconds later Jaemin parked the car next to one of the many police cars.

**-**

“No, but can you explain? I still can’t understand why you’d want us to help you with detective work. We’re good at gathering information, we’re good at spying stuff and at guard stuff, but solving murders? We aren’t Sherlock Holmes you know.” Renjun was getting impatient. He just couldn’t stop thinking that something about this whole situation didn’t make sense.

“Gathering information is key to solving murders.” It was one of the newcomers who spoke, probably just out of the academy, wanting to show off. He looked at Jaemin arrogantly and turned to leave.

“Oh honey,” Jaemin wasn’t about to deal with anybody’s shit today, “gathering information is key to solving murders yeah, but you don’t even have a lead.”

“So, what do we know so far? We’re here, we might as well give you a helping hand.” Mark broke the silence, the air felt heavy just by co-existing, arguing surely wouldn’t make things better.

Jisung, who was still quite confused as to how they fit there and was still trying to get used to the team’s dynamics, decided that the best way to stop looking like a lost puppy (or rather, a lost chick?) was to keep notes. The baby chick took out a pen and notebook and ran around to keep notes of as much information as he could.

“So, what do we know so far?” Jeno, who had somehow assumed the role of the team leader for today, caught him off guard.

**  
  
-**

  
  
He was scrolling on the news page while drinking his coffee, **9:35am.** , read the clock when he nearly spat his coffee.

_‘Man found dead_. _Click on the link for more information_.’

_No. Nope, no, no, no, there’s no way they found out._ His head was a mess, and his heart was beating loudly, he suddenly felt like he was drowning. He clicked on the link while trying to calm himself, after all, their work had always been flawless, no way someone could have found out.

_Man found dead: the beginning of a series of unfortunate events?_

He cringed. What are they trying so hard for? He quickly read the article before he-

“HENDERY!” He yelled on the top of his lungs and his teammate ran to the kitchen.

“Bro, what the fuck, why are you yelling like that. The others are still asleep.” Hendery replied.

“Well, tell them to wake the fuck up. We got some shit to deal with.”

Hendery had never seen Lucas look this stressed before in his life.

“Fuck.” He replied and went to wake the other two of the team up.

Lucas took a cigar from the pack and lit it with a swift movement. He was all types of confused and even smoking couldn’t help him relax. It was a cold morning, the heaters were on and his hot coffee, that was now cold, was sitting on the table next to his phone. He could hear his teammates whine about waking up “…so early, just let me sleep, it was a tough night yesterday.”

“Get the fuck up Yangyang, Lucas said we got shit to deal with. Dejun, this applies to you as well. Both of you, get the fuck up.”

Hendery got to the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. The other two boys followed suit and copied Hendery’s actions.

“So, what happened?” it was Dejun who spoke. The newest addition to their team, who had just finished his first job and still hadn’t accepted his actions, ‘That guilt, will I live with it forever?’ he asked them when they got back from work, but the answer to his question was nowhere near helpful ‘You don’t get to choose your demons Dejun, remember that.’ Lucas had told him just a second before he started snoring softly.

Hendery took a sip and looked at Lucas “So…”

Lucas grabbed his phone from the table and texted something. “So, check your phones.”

“Can’t you just tell us? God, why are you acting so cryptic, for fuck’s sake.” It was Yangyang this time.

“What the fuck does this mean? Are you for fucking real? I thought they said they’d make sure nobody would get their hands on this case.” Hendery was furious.

“Can’t we like, contact someone? Who gave us the job, do we know them? Can’t we contact them somehow?” Dejun was both scared and confused. He was feeling heavy, guilty, wrong, _how could you do that_ , his conscience was fucking him up, _how could you just kill a person_ , he was drenched in sweat, his heart was beating fast, too fast, his head was spinning, he couldn’t breathe, he felt like he was underwater, _you’re not even human anymore_ , he wanted to scream but couldn’t, _you’ve been through shit Dejun, but this doesn’t excuse you murdering a person_ , he was trembling, the voices of the other three guys were making his head spin, _I have to concentrate, concentrate, please, just concentrate on one thing_ , his body felt hot, _maybe I should have died instead, yes, that would have been better_.

Yangyang stopped mid-sentence and turned to Dejun. _That- It doesn’t look good, not good at all_.

“Uhm, guys, perhaps…instead of arguing. I mean I’m fine arguing really, but uhm, I think there’s something wrong with Dejun?”

Hendery and Lucas immediately stopped their conversation.

“Oh, fucking shit. He’s having a panic attack, shit, shit, shit, what are we supposed to do, fuck.” Lucas was starting to lose his cool.

“Will you stop stressing this much? It’s not gonna help him at all if you get anxious too.” Hendery was trying to keep his cool. _How do you even help a person who’s having a panic attack, I knew we shouldn’t have made him help_.

“Dejun, Dejun, please focus on my voice if you can.” Yangyang started talking to him while holding a glass of water. “Guys, I’m dealing with this, I got this so please, try to come up with a solution for the other thing.”

Lucas looked scared, but Yangyang was right, being there wouldn’t help Dejun get better.

“So, what are we going to do about this?” Lucas, who was still worried about Dejun, tried to focus on something else.

“What we’re doing is, we’re doing nothing. Making calls, sending messages or mail, anything we do can potentially make the situation worse, we’ll end up attracting much more attention than we should. We used a burner phone and nicknames for that job, we’ll be fine for the most part.” Hendery’s rationality snapped him back to reality.

“That. Yeah, you’re making sense. Actually, this is really the only thing that’s making sense right now, but what are we going to do about Dejun? There’s no way he’ll be able to act like everything’s okay.”

“He just needs to accept his actions, that’s all. We were the same when we started Lucas, it’s not like we don’t know how hard this is for him, we just need to wait, and also maybe, keep him at home.”

“Yeah… Do you think these fuckers asked for help? I think they’ve asked for help from an outsider before. Maybe we could monitor their work by finding the outsider.”

“He’s fine, well, fine would be an overstatement to be honest, but he’s better than he was, he went to lie down.” Yangyang interrupted them. “My only question is, are _we_ okay? I heard something about monitoring the police’s work, do you think that it’s possible?”

They looked at each other and stayed in silence for a few seconds.

“Well, I think that there’s only one way for us to find out, don’t you?” Hendery replied. “We can deal with it as if it were a game, we can always change things and take the lead, I’m done working for assholes only to be thrown under the bus.”

Everything felt weird, they knew that making one mistake could make them spend the rest of their lives behind bars. Curse the moment they accepted that offer, there was something shady from the very beginning, curse the moment they gave Dejun the knife, curse the moment they threw the body in the river, curse the moment they made yet another man live the rest of his life knowing that he took someone’s life, but it was far too late for that now. Sometimes surviving means revenge, and revenge is _never_ rainbows and sunshine.


	4. Cue chaos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes in life you go through an "Ah shit" moment; you don't know how to deal with what's going on or you've lost any sense of, well, sense. Well, here's theirs.

“He was stabbed twelve times. No signs of struggle, possibly due to substances consumed prior to the attack. Time of death, I believe it should be between 1:30 and 2:00am.”

Jisung wrote everything down, carefully, making sure that all the information is there and easy to read. Jaemin was nodding while listening to the coroner, there were however, a few things still concealed.

“Have you found what substances were consumed before he was attacked?” Jisung asked, pen in one hand, notepad in the other. Mark glanced at him with pride, _Renjun was right when he said he’s a fast learner_.

“Yes, let me see. He had consumed alcohol, a lot of it actually. The exam results also showed traces of nicotine, cocaine as well as chloroform. We can assume that chloroform was used as a way to take him out before killing him. It would certainly be much easier to kill an unconscious man than someone on drugs. He was probably already dead long before being disposed of.”

Five pages of notes in total. Five pages of information, most people would expect everything important to be already written there, however, -

“Mr. Kang, a question, if I may.” Renjun, who was suspicious since the very beginning, wasn’t biting the bait. The policeman standing across of them raised a brow but nodded positively, nonetheless.

“You’ve been oh-so-kind and given us all this information, extremely crucial I have to admit, thank you. However, you’ve yet to answer the most important of our questions; who is this man?” Renjun stared at the policeman, arms crossed, eyebrows raised, his expression had a hint of annoyance.

Chenle snorted and shook his head, “Let me add that we are already aware that you’ve identified the man.” _How did we forget to ask that of all things_?

Mr. Kang cleared his throat while trying to repress himself from saying ‘ah, fuck’ and instead just commented; “I’m sorry kids, this information is classified. I don’t have the authority to tell you, and, if I’m honest, I don’t think you’ll be told at all.”

Haechan clicked his tongue. “Damn, then what the fuck are we even here for? Should we go around and ask people for this man’s name? For all we know, he could have been killed in a completely different town before being thrown in the river, so what the fuck are we supposed to do whilst not knowing who the fuck this man is?”

“Excuse me young man, how dare you speak to me like that?”

“How dare _I_? _You_ are asking _me_ , how dare I? Well, kind sir, last time I checked, it wasn’t me who asked for your help for a murder case at 7am. Last time I checked, it wasn’t me who wanted to participate in this fucking witch hunt, just so that _you_ can take all the credit. Knowing this man’s name is the key to solving this entire fucking case, but no-no, you can’t let us know the most important thing because apparently, it’s ‘classified information’. How am I to trust in the police force, if the police force is concealing information from the very people they are supposed to be working _with_? You know what, fuck him, fuck you, let’s leave, there’s no point in helping these assholes, even the money isn’t worth it.”

-

“Joshua Stephens Lee.” Yangyang said without looking up from the phone. “Born in 1986.”

Lucas stopped writing whatever it was he was writing and looked at Yangyang with a confused look. “Joshua Stephens Lee who?” he asked a bit later only to earn a displeased look from the younger.

“What do you mean Joshua Stephens Lee who? Hello, Earth to Lucas? It’s the name of the guy we fucking **_killed_**.”

“Oh, oooh right, yeah, yes, that guy. Why do you remember his name? I thought we got rid of everything that could be used against us.” He grabbed his pen again and continued what he was doing before.

“Yeah, uh, well, not exactly. I still have the burner phone’s sim card, and, well, we just got a message you might want to see.”

“A message? The fuck? Wasn’t the person who gave us the job using a burner phone too?” Lucas quickly got up and looked over Yangyang’s shoulder.

_Joshua Stephens Lee, 1986, one wrong move and you’re done for._

Lucas’ eyes widened and his nostrils flared. He quickly grabbed his coat and phone and rushed out of the door. Just a second before closing the door he turned to Yangyang, “Don’t tell Dejun.” and closed the door with a loud thud.

He was walking fast, phone in one hand, struggling to wear his coat. The cold air hit his face, giving his nose and cheeks a rosy colour, and messing his dark red hair. The past three days have been hell for them, a trip to and back from hell actually, and he was about to go there once again. He hadn’t slept well since the news, spending most of his time trying to find a way to deal with the situation, having to keep Dejun calm, deciding whether or not to drag another person into this whole mess. Just as he got in the bus, he unlocked his phone and called a number. _Please tell me you haven’t changed it, please pick up._ He brushed his hair back with his hand in frustration and sighed.

“The number you have dialled is not accessible at the moment. Please try again later or leave a-”

_Fuck._ He called the number again, at this point he was getting anxious, heart beating fast, he couldn’t breathe well and out of habit started biting his nails. The ringing sound kept going for so long, that Lucas removed the phone from his ear and was about to end the call just when he heard the man’s voice on the other end. He let out a sigh of relief.

“Hello?” the man’s voice had a happy vibe to it.

“Hey, it’s Lucas. Can we meet?”

“Oh! Hey, yes, of course, can you come by? Do you remember where my place is?”

“Yeah. I’m on my way as we speak. See you in fifteen.”

**_00:57 minutes._ **

**_Call ended._ **

-

Shotaro was bobbing his head to the music and intentionally singing off-key loudly.   
_TELL ME WHYYY  
AIN’T NOTHING BUT A HEARTACHE   
TELL ME WHYYYYYY   
AIN’T NOTHING BUT A MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISTAKE_

His friends, tired of his singing (which was more like yelling), looked at each other for a brief moment and nodded their heads simultaneously. After a few seconds of them no longer being able to deal with him, Shotaro felt a light tap on his right shoulder. Taking his headset off, he turned to look at the taller guy, waiting for the ‘We’ll go get something to eat, uh, so see you later.’

“Uhh.” He was hesitating. 

“What’s wrong?” Shotaro raised a brow, _come on please just say you’re leaving already_. 

“Yeah, uh, no, we’ll go grab something to eat, so you should, uhm, do whatever it is that you’re doing right now. Do you want us to bring you food after?”

“That’s it? Go ahead, it’s fine I’ll just eat some of our snacks.”

“Okay cool, see you later then.”

Upon hearing the door close shut he let out a sigh of relief, how was he gonna explain that ‘Oh Lucas is an old friend and also gets paid to kill people!!’ to a bunch of newbie hackers?

Three knocks. Shotaro opened the door a few seconds later to a Lucas, who still seemed unsure about whether he was in the right place, looking at his smaller friend his eyes lit up and Shotaro immediately found himself in a hug so tight that he almost lost his breath.

“I haven’t seen you in so long oh my god.” Lucas had momentarily forgotten his worries (meaning; the fact they killed a person and the police were after them and they had no way of dealing with the situation) and turned into a puppy amidst the excitement of seeing an old friend.

“Yeah has to be about, six years? I can’t believe we both ended up doing shit we didn’t support at all.” Lucas laughed upon hearing this, Shotaro, pro hacker, elite of elites, didn’t even know how to turn on a laptop when he was a teen. As for himself? At sixteen he had said “I just think that I could open a small cosy café and live off of it for life,” at eighteen he decided to get a loan in an attempt to buy said space for the café, and two months later his brain had an ‘oh shit’ moment when he realised that he couldn’t buy the space he wanted and also that he had no way of paying back the loan. Then he met Hendery who was like “oh I know a place where you could work” and that was it.

“Yeah, man, I’ve been in this for a few years already, but it feels as if it’s been ages. Oh, we’ve also got a newbie, well-trained and shit but he’s still not used to it.” He took out his cigarettes pack and took out a cig and his lighter. “Uhm, mind if I…?”

“Oh, sure sure, go ahead, I don’t care, these buttholes smoke all the time anyways, I’m used to it.”

Lucas lit the cigarette and felt his shoulders relax. “Oh, right, here, I brought something for us to eat.” He handed a white plastic bag to Shotaro and put the cigar between his lips.

“Thanks. So, let’s get it over with. What do you want? We have about thirty minutes before the guys return and start annoying you with questions that you won’t know how to answer.” Shotaro was chill but he was also the type of person who would want to deal with responsibilities sooner than later.

“We killed someone, like, some Joshua guy whatever. The thing is we got a message today, on a burner phone from a number different to the one that was used to contact us for the job. The police are after us, but so is some team of high-class spies? Informants? I don’t know what they are, but the thing is; they work with the police every now and then, and they are good, like really good.” He paused. _What do I need him to do, I came here with a plan, where’s my plan?_

“You want me to hack into the police’s system or something?” Shotaro looked at him with excitement.

“Well, yes but not just the police. We need to know what this team they’re working with is doing. Also, any information the police have, we need it. Just, kind of monitor their actions and progress, and… I want you to find where this team is based, I think I might have to pay them a visit.”

-

The ride after Haechan’s argument with Mr. Kang felt uneasy. Jaemin was silent, eyes on the road driving carefully while Mark, sitting next to him kept overthinking, getting more anxious about this whole ordeal by the second. _This won’t have a good effect on us. We should have reacted differently. What if we face problems after this?_ He turned to Haechan who was shaking his leg trying to ease his anger and refreshing his social media every two seconds absent minded. His expression was much calmer, but one could easily understand that he was still in need of time to cool off.

“Will you fucking stop shaking your leg already, oh my god.” Chenle looked at Haechan with irritation. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to explain this to you, but you already lashed out at Mr. Kang, we most probably lost this job and now we will probably have to face consequences too because we _know_ stuff about this case, so stop being annoying and get your shit together, this was your fault.”

“It was _what?_ It was _my_ fault? How is it my fault that I wanted to know who the fuck the person who died is? You all agree with me or else you would have stopped me from talking that very moment so shut the fuck up. And if you want to blame someone, blame Renjun. He started the whole ‘what’s the victim’s name’ shit.” 

“Wait, what the fuck? Why blame _me_ about this shit? How was it a bad thing that I wanted to do my job right? You would have fucking asked the same thing eventually. _Ooh let’s blame it on Renjun, it’s his fault for being good at his fucking job_. Fuck you both.”

“Oh! The oh-so-perfect Renjun, so you mean that we aren’t good at our job?” Chenle was about to get up from his seat. “So, it’s our fault for trying to cooperate with these fucking pigs? Well, news-fucking-flash Renjun, we lost the job, we won’t get paid for that shit, they probably won’t even ask for our help again after your pestering them like this.”

“Last time I checked; it wasn’t me who told a police officer to go fuck himself.”

“You didn’t fucking disagree with me at that time. Oh my god, why is everything _my_ fault.” 

Jeno kicked the back of Haechan’s seat in anger. It was either he did something about this situation, or I guess fuck teamwork.

“All three of you, sit your asses down and shut the fuck up. Jaemin is fucking driving, it’s on you if we die or kill someone, and you are making Jisung anxious with your constant fucking bickering. Get your shit together, we’ll deal with the situation once we get back.”

Mark was silent, patiently waiting for them to get back to the building. Jaemin was tired, he had a headache and by no means was he about to add fuel to the fire. Jisung was stressed; his first job had gone from good to bad to fucking shit within less than six hours.

“Wait, this isn’t the way to our office, where are you going?” Mark was caught off guard with the sudden change in direction.

“Well, I don’t know about the rest of you and to be honest, I don’t care right now, but I’m hungry, and Jisung looks like he needs something to ease his mind, so no more work today, you could go to the office and fight each other to death for all I care, but I’m going to get lunch.”

-

“So,” Jeno started speaking with his mouth full of food “you know how we like,… how we like have to deal with this thing now?” he paused to grab his glass of water.

“Can’t you just eat first, _then_ start talking? I’ve told you a thousand times to not do that, you might end up choking yourself.” Jaemin commented half-worried half-annoyed.

Jeno shook his head, stuffed himself with food again and started talking, completely ignoring his friend. “It’s fine, don’t worry.” Cheeks puffed from the food, his glasses sliding from the bridge of his nose, chopsticks on one hand, spoon on the other, it was almost impossible to take him seriously.

“Yeah, anyways, about the uh,” he paused to chew his food “the thingy we are dealing with right now. We’re in a pickle, right?”

The rest of the guys looked at him confused, and a bit expectant. Haechan who had calmed down completely looked raised a pickled radish and looked at it confused. “I don’t see any of us in this though.”

Jisung snorted at this comment causing a domino of reactions; Mark almost choked on his water, Chenle accidentally hit Mark’s back a bit too hard while trying to help him, Renjun burst out laughing, Jaemin just shook his head and “You’re not even a dad, who gave you the dad joke license?”

“Aaaaaaaah!! Let me say what I want to say!” Jeno threw a tantrum the same way five-year-olds act when their parent won’t let them get a second bar of chocolate.

“Sir, yes sir, you are right, my joke was fairly bad. Go ahead mister chipmunk, we shall listen.”

Jeno rolled his eyes at Haechan, who was laughing in triumph. “Yes, thank you. So, as I was saying, we’re in a pickle, but I think I have an ace up my sleeve. A connection of my own, if I may say so. A friend who can help us. An ally. A-”

“Okay, okay we get it. Who’s your oh-so-amazing ally?” Renjun interrupted his self-praise.

Jeno looked at them with a mischievous smile, playful eyes like that of a child, and a face flushed red from excitement.

“Jeong Sungchan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helloooooooo, it's been 500 years (no) since the last time i updated (again, no, i just enjoy using hyperobole wayyyy too much for my own good), if you are still reading this, know that this means A LOT to me, if you forgot abt this: big mood because honestly? so did i at some point  
> anw~ i've had this chapter sitting in the drafts for far too long and i finally decided to edit and upload it! i reaaally hope you enjoy this story! i have no idea where i'm going with it exactly ngl but the spirit and excitement is there <3  
> i'd love to see your comments/suggestions/ideas about this! 
> 
> i hope you are all doing well!  
> take care !!

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to this fic and thank you for reading! I have no idea where I'm going with it exactly yet, so join me for a rollercoaster of confusion, fun and who knows what else? Certainly not you, perhaps not me. It's an adventure, if I may say so myself.


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